


Sunshine Yellow

by Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation



Series: Colors I Can't See With Anyone Else [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avatar WLW Week 2020, Background Relationships, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hair Dyeing, POV Mai, Sokka - Freeform, Time Skips, Zuko - Freeform, suki - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26605789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation/pseuds/Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation
Summary: Dyeing your hair is how you find your soulmate. Whatever color you dye it, that color will appear on the ends of your soulmate’s hair.---Mai had never had dyed hair in her life. Either her own or the mark of someone else’s choices. Her soulmate’s choices. Mai never could decide how she felt about that.Until she did.---Day 3 of Avatar WLW Week 2020. Standalone work within the same universe as Lime Green.
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Colors I Can't See With Anyone Else [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935499
Comments: 12
Kudos: 164
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	Sunshine Yellow

**Author's Note:**

> Please accept my humble offering for day 3 of Avatar WLW Week 2020. This takes place in the same universe as my fic Lime Green, but it functions as a complete standalone work! More of a companion piece than anything else. Quick reminder about where this idea came from and some rules regarding the universe.  
> The prompt:  
> If you dye your hair, your soulmate’s hair color changes as well  
> -from thepokyone on Tumblr!  
> Find the post here (the whole list is super creative and fun!): https://thepokyone.tumblr.com/post/167243919772/soulmate-au-list
> 
> I made it so that your whole head doesn’t get dyed, only the ends of your hair. Also, it only registers when your soulmate dyes it a different color than their natural color. If neither has dyed hair both just have their own natural color, no other color on the ends. And you can’t try to dye over the color of the hair on the ends, the only way to fully get rid of it is to shave your hair off. Hope that makes sense!
> 
> Please enjoy!

Mai had never had dyed hair in her life. Either her own or the mark of someone else’s choices. Her soulmate’s choices. Mai never could decide how she felt about that. Evidence of a soulmate would bring unneeded hassle, but at the same time the lack of evidence made Mai feel strangely empty inside.

Within her family and their social circle while she was growing up soulmates were something to be dismissed. Derided even. Wanting to find them was viewed as an unnecessary distraction from more important matters. Matters such as money, power, and portraying a picture perfect ideal to the world. The strangely colored hair of soulmates had no place in that world. There were rumors that some of the adults in her parents' social circle wore wigs, in order to make sure no errant soulmates caused problems.

When she was younger Mai had wanted to try dying her hair. She wanted to see what would happen. If anyone in her small group of friends would suddenly show up to her door sporting a new hair color on their head to match and declaration of love on their lips.

She quickly gave up on that secret dream when Zuko showed up to school one day while they were in lower secondary with the ends of his hair colored a dark blue. He was spoken for, soulmate wise. And she knew he suffered for it. If she had been a bit braver maybe this would have given her the push she finally needed to dye her own hair, come what may. She and Zuko could be the lone rebels, Zuko could have been proud of the rainbow of different hair colors he had over the years. But she was only 12, she wasn’t brave enough to fight back against everything she’d ever known yet. But she would get there though.

Her bravery didn’t extend to dying her hair. It turned out she rather loved her natural color, and was concerned about what bleaching and dying would do to its integrity. So she didn’t. Instead she found other ways to make her bravery known.

* * *

“It’ll just be for a few days,” Ty Lee said, fingers lightly trailing across Mai’s face. “I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone babe.”

Mai scoffed, “Not likely.”

Azula looked up from her phone and rolled her eyes at the other two. She was draped across the couch in the apartment she and Mai shared. Mai was sitting on the plush chair, with Ty Lee leaning back against her legs while sprawling on the floor.

“Why are you only sweet to Ty Lee?” Azula teased.

“Because Ty Lee is the only one I like,” Mai shot back without hesitation.

Azula smirked. “Sure, whatever you say.”

“Anyway,” Ty Lee chirped, interrupting the bickering of her friend and girlfriend. “As I was saying, the convention is only for a few days, it won’t be that bad.”

“I wish I could go with you,” Mai said.

“I know babe, but you would be so bored! There wouldn’t be anything you were interested in. And no one to talk to aside from me! And I’ll be busy most of the time.”

“I could talk to Suki,” Mai offered, “I know Suki.”

“Suki will be just as busy as me,” Ty Lee pointed out. “We co-own and run the fitness center after all.”

Azula seemed to determine that it had been long enough since she made her presence known. “I thought it was a conference, not a convention.”

“Convention, conference, who cares?” Ty Lee chirped, “All I care is that it’ll be three days of talking fitness and small women owned business badassery!”

“Three days without me,” Mai pouted. Ty Lee stood up abruptly, hovering over her girlfriend.

“Oh, it’s happening now,” she grinned down at Mai.

“Oh no,” Mai said, eyes going wide.

“Oh yes,” Ty Lee crowed, leaning down. Azula laughed in the background as Mai squirmed.

“Tickle monster!” Ty Lee squealed, reaching down to tickle Mai mercilessly. It was an old game from their childhood. Whenever Ty Lee felt Mai was getting too grumpy and stuck in her head, she would tickle her. It took Mai a little while to realize it was because Ty Lee always wanted to see her happy. Ty Lee had always been able to read her so well, knowing when Mai needed to be cheered up with tickle monster, but also knowing when she needed to be comforted, or given her space.

“Feeling better?” Ty Lee pulled back with a smile.

“Much,” Mai gave a hiccupping laugh, pulling her back down into a sweet kiss.

* * *

Ty Lee had been the only one who had supported Mai when she had insisted on becoming a lawyer against her family’s wishes. It hadn’t even been an hour after she moved into her tiny dorm room, futilely trying to convince herself that it didn’t matter that her parents weren’t there to help, when she had heard a knock on the door. She’d opened it to find Ty Lee standing on the other side, proudly holding a gift bag in her hands. It had been a framed collage of pictures of the two of them, so that “You won’t forget about me when you’re off doing fancy lawyer things!” (Ty Lee’s words).

That was the moment Mai realized she loved Ty Lee.

* * *

It had taken until after she had graduated for them to actually get together. “Because you are idiots.” (Azula’s words). Azula had actually helped get them together, after she broke free from her own father’s rigid expectations. She was always dropping not at all subtle hints in front of them about the obvious feelings there.

Finally one day she had snapped, “Oh would you two just kiss already!” and stormed out of the room after their awkward flirting had become too much for her to take. Mai had looked at Ty Lee and decided to oblige.

Sometimes Mai thought she would have liked for them to get together earlier than they did. But far more often she thought she wouldn’t have had it happen any other way. They had been able to establish their own paths, and found all the ways their paths worked perfectly together before committing. It just worked.

* * *

Ty Lee was coming back today. Three days had now passed, and Mai had to admit her girlfriend had been right, Mai had been so busy with work she had barely noticed the time passing. After work it had been a bit more obvious, but Azula had made a point of keeping her busy. They had binge watched a new show, and gone out to have dinner with Zuko and his boyfriend Sokka.

Today was now Friday, and Mai was determined to power through her law clerk work so she could leave early to surprise Ty Lee at the train station. After working hard throughout the morning without a break, Mai decided to go grab a quick tea from the shop down the street. Get a boost to hold her over through the next few hours.

She walked briskly to the shop, barely looking up from the email she was writing on her phone to watch where she was going. Once there she found the workers casting her strange looks as she stood in line and ordered. Mai was a regular here, and had placed her usual order. She had no clue why they were looking at her like that. And they were giving her small, tentative smiles. With a bemused glance she grabbed her order as soon as it was ready, and hurried back out of the shop.

It was as she exited that she noticed. With a gasp she turned back to stare at her reflection in the glass. The ends of her hair, where they stuck out a bit from her buns, were a bright, unmissable sunshine yellow. This couldn’t be happening, she felt as she looked at her reflection. She couldn’t be in a loving committed relationship with the woman of her dreams, only to have it ruined by this sudden show of spirit from her soulmate.

Mai angrily tugged her hair out of the buns hairstyle she had it in, frowning as it flopped down around her face. The brightly colored ends seemed to mock her. She wanted to cut them off, but knew that wouldn’t make any difference, the hair would compensate and turn the new ends yellow too.

With a huff she glanced at her phone, realizing that hair crisis notwithstanding she had to get back to work. Giving into a childish instinct Mai stuck her tongue out at her reflection, before turning resolutely away. Her stomach sank as she walked back into her building, and went up in the elevator. The reunion she had been expecting had just gotten a lot more complicated.

* * *

Mai stood nervously in the train station, waiting for the bullet train carrying her girlfriend back to her to arrive. She had debated not coming at all, but knew that would make Ty Lee’s inevitable discovery of her new hair color that much worse. Then she had considered wearing a hat of some kind, even calling Azula to see if she could bring her one from their apartment.

That had led to her having to explain to Azula why she needed the hat in the first place. Azula has gone strangely calm, even smug after learning about Mai’s predicament. She had then soundly refused to bring Mai any sort of head covering. Saying she had a feeling she would be glad she had met Ty Lee as she was now. Mai had then promptly hung up on her, muttering about useless friends and roommates.

Which meant that Mai was now waiting for her girlfriend with bright yellow hair in addition to her usual black. She hadn’t put it back up, preferring to leave it down so she could glare at it all she wanted. A small part of her, that she would never admit to, actually liked the way it looked with her natural color. It didn’t clash the way it should’ve. Instead it looked, right somehow. All of which made Mai even angrier at it.

The train that Ty Lee and Suki were scheduled to be on pulled up to the platform with a whoosh. As the doors slid open, a rush of people bustled out. Mai craned her head this way and that way. Searching for her diminutive girlfriend. Who she hoped would be understanding about the new hair. And still love her. She really hoped for that.

The crowd parted for a second, and Mai caught a flash of bright pink and yellow. The colors of Ty Lee’s favorite dress. Turning in that direction Mai finally saw her. Ty Lee. She was standing in the middle of the crowd staring right at Mai with a soft, overjoyed expression. A portion of her hair was dyed a bright, unmissable sunshine yellow.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked! Please let me know if you did. Either in the form of comments or kudos would be greatly appreciated!  
> ~  
> Follow me on Tumblr if you wanna! @miyuki-scourgeofthefirenation  
> I take fic requests, though I make no promises about timeliness in fulfilling them. Hit me up on Tumblr and we can talk about it. No NSFW. Don’t ask, it’s not gonna happen.  
> I upload for ATLA on Sundays!


End file.
